He did leave it open ended and said he would let us know if anything changes.

Bigger down payments leave less for investing and reserves.   

It seems that the agreement is okay, but you can't leave the writ open-ended.

Down here most duplex's are located in meh areas, areas I'm not comfortable leaving my wife and kids for days on end as I travel for work.But there are indeed deals to be found out there!

I would never accept a tenant on the promise that they will "quit" smoking without considerable skin in the game.

I am looking to expand on this with the hopes of leaving my day job at some point..

If you're the number 1 page on google but can't express your message in a way that appeals to your prospects.. then you're leaving dollars on the sidewalk.

Check their calendar, if they don't have one, I'd think they would be running a pretty lose ship by the seat of their pants and be disorganized.....not good.I'd also leave my checkbook and credit cards at home.

Just make sure you get the rehab numbers right since the costs can skyrocket if you miss something, so leave enough padding.

If the property is held in the name of decedent, you'd need a RM balance leaving sufficient equity to cover the costs of the title fix.....which assumes there are known heirs whom can act as admin/exec in a probate action.